Sometimes transit planning and the state of streets get so ridiculous, one doesn’t know whether to—as the saying goes—laugh or cry.

Los Angeles-based comedian George Coffey decided laughing was better. That’s why he built the website and social media feed “Local Metro.” Streetsblog first became aware of his work after seeing a tweet about a new subway being planned that would be ten stories below the surface. The reason: “After feedback from multiple local businesses that Metro construction may inconvenience them, we’ve completed a new design for the central Downtown station! Building 300 feet below ground ensures the least disruption while adding less than 15 minutes to each rider’s travel time.”

As with most good satire, the plan for this fictional subway wasn’t far off from reality: several readers of the tweet took it seriously and were outraged by the proposal to build so deep because one or two local business owners “were still uncomfortable with the possibility of losing street parking for three weeks.”

Streetsblog thought it’d be fun to have a virtual sit down with Coffey and find out what inspired him to start the site, what it says about real transit, and how he became a transit nerd in the first place.

***

Streetsblog: So I assume the 300-foot-deep subway is a spoof of VTA’s ridiculous BART extension plans?

George Coffey: That is what it’s parodying, yes. Although once I tweeted it, people responded about a proposed subway in Seattle that’s also ridiculously deep. But yes, it’s a parody of the San Jose extension.

SB: It seems you started with a real rendering of it in fact?

GC: It’s based on a real rendering with four or five escalators.

SB: So you’re based in Los Angeles. Why are you picking on a Bay Area project?

GC: The Bay Area transit systems provide a lot of material. And it’s the place in America with the most NIMBY people trying to mess with everything. With the whole BART San Jose extension there’s just a lot there. I also ended up following a lot of YIMBY housing people with my personal account and their activism points out flaws in zoning around transit and flaws with the frequency of service.

SB: I’m assuming you’re a transit nerd.

GC: Yeah, I’m a little bit of a transit nerd.

Transit spoofer George Coffey

SB: Just a little bit? You run a whole site dedicated to making fun of it.

GC: I had the idea in my head for a couple of years. At some point I just had too many ideas and jokes not to do it. Okay, yeah, now that I’m running the account I guess I’ve earned the credit of “transit nerd.”

SB: Where did you first begin to suspect you had this affection?

GC: I grew up riding the T. My dad worked in Boston and my grandparents lived there. I used to collect the little punch tickets.

SB: Punch tickets?

GC: Yeah, from the Boston-area transit systems. Each conductor had his own ticket puncher that made a unique shape. So I used to collect them to see how many symbols of the little punch-things you’d get. So I always enjoyed it.

SB: That is meta transit nerd status. Do you still ride now?

GC: I do.

SB: What’s your commute?

GC: About an hour and a half across LA. I take one bus down Cesar Chavez, then the Purple line to Wilshire and Western, then the 720 bus to Beverly Hills.

SB: That doesn’t sound fun.

GC: I’ve been reading lots of books. It’s almost an hour by car too, but it’s way more stressful to drive down the 10, so mentally it ends up being pretty even.

SB: So why make fun of it?

GC: I am pro-transit and I want it to get better. So I intentionally try to ridicule things that are clearly bad moves by a transit agency. Or sometimes I stick to things that are obviously absurd.

Northbound B trains are delayed while we take a train with a mechanical problem upstate to live on a farm

— Local Metro (@GoLocalMetro) February 6, 2022

SB: So you have standards?

GC: I’m not going to ridicule a bus operator.

SB: You have a thread and video on your site that’s got to be inspired by the Los Angeles airport Rube Goldberg transit connection plan. What is it going to be, three different vehicles and over an hour to get to Union Station, where you can catch a fourth mode to hopefully finally get home?

GC: I was more inspired by how LAX transit is now. I think what they’re working on will be more reasonable than having the audacity to call the Green Line station nearest the airport the “aviation station.”

SB: Right, where you wait around for a bus under a freeway with your luggage to travel the last couple of miles to the terminals.

GC: So I was making fun of their first try. But yes, the new try is also pretty ridiculous, considering you still won’t be able to take a single train to Union Station from the airport.

SB: I like your video about it (which I’ll embed in the interview) about the train to the train to the train to the bus to Lot B to the other bus to the terminals.

SB: You also like to poke fun at transit systems and their customer-last perspective. You did a video about a new line that was cheap to build because it has no stops. Is there a transit system you’re picking on in particular with that?

GC: That’s inspired by real promotional videos you’ll see for new transit lines, where they’ll try to claim they’re reinventing the wheel or doing something really innovative or revolutionizing transit.

SB: Instead of just building a God-damn train or bus line that works for riders?

G.C. Right. They should just be sticking to old standbys. So that was based on just thinking about what would be the most ridiculous thing they could do technically, which would be a line with no stops.

SB: It does save money—as does making people get off BART in the middle of a freeway to change to a cheaper BART at a transfer station that has no entrances or exits.

GC: Right.

SB: You also go off about the lack of customer service, like when agencies randomly cancel bus and rail services and the poor announcements about it. The quips on your site are so close to what really happens. I’m thinking of the frequent shutdowns of the Muni subway. Did you have Muni in mind for that?

We’re hearing concerns about the 6 week subway shutdown. Rest assured after intensive construction, there will be no difference in appearance or service

— Local Metro (@GoLocalMetro) August 7, 2022

GC: It almost doesn’t matter.

SB: Right, one of your tweets had people responding as if you’re lampooning Philadelphia, or Boston, or Washington. It really didn’t seem to matter.

GC: When I tweet something with one specific agency in mind, people always think it’s about their metro, wherever they’re from.

SB: That says something about the status of transit in the US You also go off about bike lanes on the site.

GC: That’s definitely something I like to parody because I don’t think painted bike lanes are taking things seriously. Just look at the whole Sixth Street bridge debacle in LA, all because they didn’t think they should close the bike lanes in with Jersey barriers and in the first week cars crashed and spun out into both bike lanes.

The west side bike path will be closed for 2 years for no discernable reason

— Local Metro (@GoLocalMetro) April 19, 2022

GC: I once posted something about how our city’s bike lanes are delineated by some of the thickest paint in the country. And what are sharrows? What is that? Is that a request that you try not to run over bikes? Which also implies you are allowed to be mean to bikers on other roads?

SB: Sharrows are a city’s way of telling cyclists to go f’ themselves.

GC: I’m sure Sharrows were originally pitched as a clever innovation.

SB: Ha! No doubt they were. So we’re just about out of time. Any final thoughts?

GC: Probably the most fun, wildest thing I’ve ever experienced on transit was taking a bus back from West Hollywood on a Saturday night and everybody was still having a great time, partying on the bus on the way home. I want to reiterate that I’m pro-transit. Everyone who follows the account is also pro-transit. I make fun of it because I want it to be better.

This interview was edited with a rusty machete.

The post ‘Native Metro’ is off the Rails – Streetsblog San Francisco appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Note: GJEL Accident Attorneys regularly sponsors coverage on Streetsblog San Francisco and Streetsblog California. Unless noted in the story, GJEL Accident Attorneys is not consulted for the content or editorial direction of the sponsored content.

San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo is concerned about a projected $3 billion cost overrun for the BART extension to downtown San Jose, attributed to designs that use a controversial single-bore, 85-foot-deep subway concept pushed by VTA.

Nevertheless, VTA is moving forward. From a San Jose Mercury News story about the VTA Board’s decision Thursday to award contracts for the project. “VTA approves $235 million San Jose BART extension contract — so why is it also reviewing its controversial design?”:

The unanimous vote from the board puts the VTA in the unusual position of awarding a $235 million contract that moves forward with the extension’s “single-bore” tunnel plan, while simultaneously launching a new analysis of the contentious design.

A map of the extension. Image: VTA

As reported previously, in an attempt to eliminate disruption to merchants, VTA had decided on a $9 billion deep, single-bore subway plan–which analysis shows could cost some $3 billion more than conventional tunneling–to construct the six-mile BART extension under downtown San Jose. VTA’s preferred design would place the two tracks stacked one above the other inside a super-large, single tunnel (see comparative diagrams below). This single-bore construction technique can make sense in cities that need to avoid underground obstacles such as legacy subway tunnels (think London, Tokyo, etc). But, of course, there aren’t any subways, crooked streets, or other such obstacles in San Jose.

VTA’s design for a single, very deep bore through downtown San Jose. This concept is supported by merchants because it minimizes temporary surface disruptions. Image: BEARD
The traditional, twin-bore configuration would have a max depth of 55 feet for riders, versus 85 feet for single-bore. Image: BEARD

But merchants always want transit in a subway, the deeper the better, with the belief that if it’s deep underground construction will have no impact on their businesses. It also, however, means when the subway is finished riders will have longer trips to and from the platforms. It also complicates construction, fire safety, and operations, since trains can’t switch from track to track without building complicated ramps between the two levels.

Nevertheless, it seemed San Jose politics had all but locked in the controversial, single-bore design, despite pushback from transit advocates. But at Thursday evening’s VTA board meeting, as reported in advocate Adina Levin’s Green Caltrain blog, Mayor Liccardo submitted his memo calling for reviews of the project to explore:

• Better connections at Diridon Station
• Entrances on both sides of Santa Clara Street at the downtown station
• Support for very high density transit oriented development

…and, most notably, an independent analysis comparing single-bore and dual-bore options, building on an earlier analysis done in 2017. Also from Green Caltrain:

“…the tradeoffs of the single and dual-bore options with regard to “passenger safety, rider access and experience, cost, and construction delay.” The previous analysis in 2017 had focused on constructability and operability, but did not compare the construction techniques for the ability to support better rider access and dense transit oriented development.

The memo from the Mayor is co-signed by San Jose Council Member and VTA board chair Chappie Jones, and Council Member Raul Peralez. Earlier this year, San Jose City Council had approved a resolution calling for improvements to the project relating to transit connections, multiple entrances, TOD, and alleviating construction impacts on businesses.

Since VTA originally made the decision in favor of the single bore option in 2018, concerns have grown regarding limitations in the project design and increasing cost estimates. SPUR and grassroots advocacy organizations such as the Transbay Coalition and Friends of Caltrain have called for passenger-focused improvements to the project, including adding entrances on both sides of the street, better passenger flow, better transit connections, and better support for transit-oriented development. A conventional subway design, with the train tunnels built side-by-side and far closer to the surface, makes it easier to accommodate such improvements.

Read more on the Green Caltrain blog and check out the coverage in the SJ Merc News.

The post Memo Requires Reconsideration of BART Extension Design – Streetsblog San Francisco appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Evan Witt was biking home from work Thursday evening around 5 pm The recent transplant from New York normally takes Arguello, but, still getting familiar with the city, he decided to try the bike lane on Polk.

As he rode south near Broadway, he came upon the parklet for Nick’s Crispy Tacos. A black Prius was blocking the lane. “I felt uncomfortable veering into traffic to get around,” Witt told Streetsblog. Instead, he tried to squeeze between the Prius and the parklet. Frustrated, he said “get out of the bike lane” as he passed the car. Witt misjudged the space slightly and his handlebars brushed against the driver’s passenger-side mirror.

The driver jumped out of the car. “He ran after me screaming ‘hey! hey!’ and yanked me off my bike,” said Witt, who was knocked down and driven into the asphalt.

Bruise from where the driver grabbed Witt. Photo by Witt.

He sustained scrapes and a large bruise on his knee. In addition, Witt’s arm was injured (seen to the right) when he was grabbed by the driver. “I got a picture of him getting back into his car after he was done with me.”

But then Witt realized a driver who was willing to get so violent might take things further and try to run him down. “It’s clear he’s willing to use his car and endanger cyclists, so I didn’t want to see what else he would do.” Happily, the driver just drove off, leaving the scene.

Witt’s knee where it struck the asphalt. Photo: Witt

Witt went home to drop off his bike–which he reports is making strange sounds now from hitting the pavement–and headed to the local police station. “The officer was attentive, asked good questions, was thorough with details,” said Witt. “I felt respected in this encounter. He didn’t try to imply it was my fault as a cyclist.”

Witt is currently looking for a lawyer and deciding what to do next. He recalls a similarly terrifying incident in Manhattan when he had to jump out of the way of a motorist driving down the bike lane against the flow of traffic. “I’m used to drivers putting me in danger every day with their cars, but escalating it to a direct physical attack is really frightening,” he said of Thursday’s incident on Polk. He stressed that “Polk deserves a real bike lane; clearly the situation is pretty unsafe, where any driver can just decide to sabotage the bike lane to go get a coffee.”

Polk was supposed to have protected bike lanes along its entire length as part of a multi-million dollar upgrade done years ago, but the effort, as reported by Streetsblog at the time, was blocked by merchants and supervisor Aaron Peskin in 2015. So many “Compromises” were made to preserve street parking that nearly all of the planned protected lanes were eliminated in favor of conventional, paint-only lanes, forcing cyclists to ride between parked cars and moving traffic.

The watering down of that project has proved deadly. A woman was killed last year crossing Polk when a motorist shot around a line of stopped cars and, driving in the unprotected bike lane, ran a red light. Protected infrastructure would have made the tragedy unlikely if not impossible.

@AaronPeskin and Huira Optometrists are personally responsible for this atrocity. I’m so sorry.

— May Use Full Lane (@MayUseFullLane) May 6, 2022

As mentioned in the tweet above, Huira Optometrists at 1418 Polk Street helped lead the effort to kill the plan for protected bike lanes on Polk. And although the blame for Thursday’s assault is primarily on the driver, if a protected bike lane had been installed, the conflict would likely have never happened.

“There’s fast-moving traffic and there’s no psychical protection to the bike lanes. It doesn’t feel comfortable that you’ll have to veer into fast-moving traffic at any second. Or some ass hole will get out of their car and attack you,” said Witt, still audibly shook up from the incident. “We share a city with some true maniacs who should not be allowed to drive.”

Streetsblog will continue to follow this story. If you witnessed the crash or can provide further information, please email us at tips. Relevant info will be forwarded to the SFPD.

The post Motorist Assaults Bicycle owner on Polk – Streetsblog San Francisco appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

San Francisco lawmakers and bureaucrats love to talk about equity, equity, and equity. And yet individuals in private cars are continually prioritized over people riding transit. Advocate and occasional Streetsblog contributor Sprague Terplan witnessed a particularly egregious example of this a couple of weeks ago on Market Street when, thanks to police activity, Muni buses were left to hang for over an hour while private cars were readily given detours. Here is his account of what happened:

On the evening of April 14, I watched a disturbing scene in which San Francisco police froze bus service and gave total priority to people in private cars. It was because of an incident on the 3400 block of Market Street, “where a person was in possession of a firearm. Officers, including emergency crews, were at the scene at around 7:23 pm to make contact with the person” – (according to KRON). Police blocked off Market where it intersects with Clayton Street. I live nearby and can see this intersection from my living room.

Market Street was closed to all outbound/uphill traffic. Motorists in private vehicles were permitted to divert off and on to Market from Clayton, using turns which are normally reserved for Muni buses.

Bus service, on the other hand, what just frozen.

Outbound L Taraval and inbound 33 Ashbury buses started backing up on Market Street (I counted at least six Muni buses stuck on Market, at least two of which were route 33 buses). Muni buses lined up in the left lane, allowing cars and SUVs to pass and detour through the intersection.

If cars could immediately proceed onto Clayton, why couldn’t buses, which for the 33 is its regular route? The L buses at the front of the line could have moved out of the way and the 33 buses could have navigated to the intersection just as the cars did. It is also unclear why the L was not rerouted immediately in the same manner, making the right onto Clayton to continue one block up to Corbett Avenue, which parallels Market. That is, eventually, how the Ls were detoured – but it was an hour before the buses started moving again, by my observation.

Ironically, the signal at Market and Clayton is one of the 33’s few transit priority features, with the Muni signal turning green as trolley buses approach the intersection. Yet, because of a combination of incompetence or indifference or both, that night Muni froze its buses and ceded all priority to private cars.

One Muni operator even directed motorists through the intersection.

“Transit first” is supposed to be official city policy. I am very supportive of the SFMTA and steps they have taken to speed up Muni service, including the recently opened and fantastic Van Ness BRT.

But when there are traffic delays, collisions, police activity, etc., all steps should be taken to give Muni vehicles priority to move through and away from the site of the incident. Police and traffic enforcement should always prioritize transit riders – for the sake of efficient use of city services, equity, livability, environmental sustainability, and common sense.

Muni’s response: Unfortunately, yesterday’s incident was one in which we were unable to proceed through the area as we would have liked. We recognize that service reroutes do impact our customer’s commute and we try our best to minimize that impact. There are times, however, when there are incidents outside of our control, like last night’s, where the only thing we can do is wait for the scene to clear so that we can resume regular operation and then begin to make adjustments to the affected routes so that we can balance out service in both directions.

***

Sprague Terplan is a member of the San Francisco Transit Riders (SFTR) and a long-time transit rider in San Francisco and the North Bay.

The post Witnessing a Transit-Final Metropolis – Streetsblog San Francisco appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Note: GJEL Accident Attorneys regularly sponsors coverage on Streetsblog San Francisco and Streetsblog California. Unless noted in the story, GJEL Accident Attorneys is not consulted for the content or editorial direction of the sponsored content.

“I don’t want to die,” said San Francisco Bicycle Coalition Executive Director Janelle Wong. Under the pressure of a one-minute time limit for public comment, the long-time advocate was forced to boil down the reason for asking the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Tuesday to approve Mayor London Breed’s legislation to permanently ban automobile traffic on a portion of the western half of JFK Drive. “I don’t want to be mutilated.”

Ultimately, the majority of the supervisors heard that stark statement and the stories from many other people who called in or came to speak who told stories of getting hit by motorists while walking and biking in San Francisco, including on JFK before it became car-free . And after a marathon hearing that started at 9 am and lasted 12 hours, the Supes voted seven to four to make the JFK Promenade permanent, with Ahsha Safaí, Shamann Walton, Connie Chan, and Aaron Peskin voting against the car ban.

I would like for every supervisor who votes NAY on car-free JFK tomorrow to also admit they vote NAY on Transit First, NAY on Vision Zero, and NAY on meeting our mode share goal of 80% sustainable modes by 2030. Be honest with the voters, for once.

— Emily Huston (@ehuston101) April 25, 2022

Supervisor Matt Haney talked about the importance of keeping JFK car-free in moving towards a more sustainable future. “This is a very important step in that direction.”

Prior to the meeting, over a hundred pro-bike, pro-pedestrians, pro-safety advocates showed up at 8 am on the steps of City Hall to make a last push for the mayor’s proposal, which would, as advocate Marcel Moran put it , preserve “a tiny sliver of Golden Gate Park to be car-free.”

“I have a lot of difficult decisions to make at the Board of Supervisors,” said D5 Supervisor Dean Preston, who co-sponsored the bill, during the pre-vote rally. “This is not one of them.”

Even after the vote today, there is much more to be done, and staff will continue to do that important work. This city has an incredible park system that should make us all proud. Making JFK car-free will only make it that much better.

— London Breed (@LondonBreed) April 26, 2022

He explained that it wouldn’t be difficult because workers who travel by bike use JFK to commute. And while he acknowledged the value of the JFK promenade for recreation and community, it’s also a lifesaver—literally—for people who ride on two wheels. “It is an essential part of a car-free network and you deserve a safe way to get to work not in a car.”

Supervisors Rafael Mandelman and Dean Preston, co-sponsors of the legislation along with Matt Haney, at the pre-hearing rally discussing the likely outcome of the vote. Photo: Streetsblog/Rudick

“I’ve seen too many injuries on JFK–injuries that are totally preventable,” said Stephen Gamboa, a doctor of Emergency Medicine at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Medical Center during public comment. He and other physicians who tested said they treat all sorts of trauma patients who, while not always injured seriously enough to make city statistics, suffer years of debilitating pain thanks to “car versus ped” collisions on JFK Drive. These collisions, they explained, ceased on the section from Kezar to Transverse when it was closed to cars at the start of the pandemic.

There is NOTHING about putting cars back on JFK that makes it safer, better for families, better for tourism or better for older adults. San Francisco needs and deserves a permanently car-free JFK. pic.twitter.com/fOUPo59SH3

— Dr Momifornia (@Momifornia1) April 26, 2022

Meanwhile, representatives from the de Young and others tried to frame the debate as an access and equity issue (many speakers gaslighted that only poor people of color drive cars and only rich white people ride bikes). Many speakers gave nearly identical statements opposing an imaginary proposal to close the entire park to drivers. In reality, of course, the only thing on the table was 1.4 miles from JFK Drive.

Walk SF’s Jodie Medeiros and Supervisor Matt Haney at the rally. Photo: Streetsblog/Rudick

Supervisor Connie Chan continued to push her “compromise” that would still allow cars on the 1.4 miles of JFK in question. But as Moran stressed during public comment, the car-free Promenade is already a compromise position. “The rest of Golden Gate Park is open to cars.”

Also open to cars: the massive, 800-space garage underneath the park, completed in 2004 and built specifically to reduce the need for parking on JFK

That said, a handful of motorists who spoke frankly about why they want JFK open to cars. “It makes for faster commuting,” said one speaker.

David Miles addressing the Board of Supervisors during public comment. That’s doctor Gamboa behind him. Photo: GovTV

Chan reiterated her belief that a survey instituted by the city, which showed that 70 percent of San Francisco residents want the JFK Promenade to endure what was cooked. “Some of the responses were from the same IP address,” she said, adding, “Can we wait some more?”

But ultimately a slim majority of the board decided 40 years is long enough to wait to have one portion of one street in the city car-free. They decided that allowing more people on bicycles and on foot to be maimed and killed is not a suitable “compromise.”

“In 1966, there was a proposal to build two new freeways. It was defeated by a six-to-five vote of Supervisors,” said advocate Danny Sauter. “In 1990, there was a proposal to demolish the Embarcadero freeway. It passed six to five by the Supervisors.” He said today’s vote, in 2022, to keep JFK car-free, would be looked back on in the same way.

The post Hurrah for J.F.Okay. Promenade Endlessly! – Streetsblog San Francisco appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Note: GJEL Accident Attorneys regularly sponsors coverage on Streetsblog San Francisco and Streetsblog California. Unless noted in the story, GJEL Accident Attorneys is not consulted for the content or editorial direction of the sponsored content.

Kyle Grochmal, advocate and Streetsblog contributor, lives in the Mission and travels regularly to Alameda by bike and AC Transit bus, which he catches from the Salesforce Transit Center. His late evening bike rides home from the Center should be relatively stress-free, thanks to the protected bike lane on Howard. Unfortunately, that’s not the case, at least on the 500 block of Howard, as he explained on Twitter:

.@templenightclub opened a parklet then turned a protected lane into priority parking for a nightclub. This is insanity. It endangers our vulnerable street users – such a service worker in front of me – and encourages drunk driving. Fix this @sfmta_muni @SF311. cc @MattHaneySF pic.twitter.com/zNaIMNthZg

— Kyle Grochmal (@KCGrock) April 2, 2022

The bike lane has to wrap around the parklet and is unprotected on this block, except for some plastic safe-hit posts. However, as noted in the tweet, it’s often blocked by scofflaw parkers. The worst problems are “Friday and Saturday, biking back on Howard,” he told Streetsblog. “A number of times there are cars in the bike lane. It happens regularly.”

“The safe-hit posts are spaced so far apart that it’s quite easy to pull cars into it,” he said.

“Thanks for bringing this to our attention,” wrote Pearce Cleaveland, marketing director for Temple, in an email to Streetsblog. He stressed that he agrees it’s not safe for people to park there. “We’ve immediately addressed this with all of our employees, both daytime and nighttime (who are expressly told not to park there), as well as any vendors visiting our building regularly.”

Irene Hernandez, who was working at the Mirus Gallery in the same building as the Temple on Tuesday afternoon, said “no employee parks here. We all take BART or pay for parking.” That conforms to Grochmal’s observations. And the lane was empty when Streetsblog observed it in the afternoon, when only employees are present at the venues.

The lane on Tuesday afternoon. Photo: Streetsblog/Rudick

Meanwhile, on the Temple Night Club web site there are no instructions from the club and bar about how to take transit to the Salesforce Transit Center-adjacent venue.

A shot of alcoholic beverages from the club’s website.

However, the website does encourage people to park on Howard.

Streetsblog reached out to Supervisor Matt Haney’s office. An official with his office said the Supervisor is aware of the issue and is consulting with SFMTA. Streetsblog also contacted SFMTA by email for more information and will update this post.

“We will also be reaching out to SFMTA and our local law enforcement reps, who we work closely with, to ask for some additional enforcement,” wrote Cleaveland. “Additionally, we are having some notices printed for our security to place on any vehicles who we DO discover might be blocking these lanes.”

In Streetsblog’s view, this is yet again a testament to the failure of SFMTA’s default quick-treatment demarcation of bike lanes, the plastic safe-hit post. The whole point of parking-protected bike lanes is the row of parked cars is supposed to keep cyclists physically safe from collision with moving automobiles. But if a parklet or anything else forces the bike lane to be right next to moving traffic, then there needs to be something that can actually stop a scofflaw motorist from parking on it. It also should be robust enough to directly and physically stop an errant motorist from running down a cyclist–that means SFMTA needs to install a Jersey Barrier or a similar barrier.

Grochmal was also frustrated by the lack of parking enforcement by SFMTA and the police. “It’s ridiculous that we don’t get enforcement at night,” he said. The Twitter thread is also pretty damning of SF 311, which had this to say:

So Grochmal tags 311 with photos of the violations and all the necessary details they need to tow the cars, but they tell him to call?

Meanwhile, Grochmal is especially concerned about essential workers who are forced to bike and scoot way out into traffic thanks to the combination of the parklet and the cars blocking a truly sub-par section of bike lane. “It’s these late-night service workers who have to scoot or bike and don’t have other options. Transit is reduced at night. And it’s during a time when they are most likely to encounter drunk drivers,” he said.

“Trust that we find this very concerning as well, and will continue to address with vendors, guests (where applicable) and employees,” wrote Cleaveland. “Safety of our employees, guests and whole community is of the utmost importance to Temple.”

The post Temple Night time Membership Parklet Endangers Howard Avenue Cyclists – Streetsblog San Francisco appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Imaging if a city closed a sidewalk during construction and told pedestrians to just walk in traffic for a month.

That’s tantamount to what San Francisco has done to cyclists on Howard Street between 5th and 6th–within sight of where Tess Rothstein was doored and killed while biking to work in 2019.

Well that was short lived. No more protected bike lane on Howard @sfbike pic.twitter.com/PctTPyCYTT

— Ms. Doreen (@MsDoreenReads) February 7, 2022

The move left cyclists understandably riled. Rothstein was killed precisely because the city left long stretches of unprotected bike lane in place for many years; she died in sight of where the protected bike lane used to begin, on the other side of 6th Street.

“They painted this unprotected lane on a street where three people were killed in three years!!” wrote People Protected Bike Lane advocate Matt Brezina, in an email to Streetsblog and public officials.

Fortunately, this is a temporary measure. “The protected bike lane that was there will be restored. The current configuration is made of temporary tape and related to the construction of the development there,” explained an official with SFMTA.

Where the bike lane bends around the construction site. The passing box truck is the same type of vehicle that took Rothstein’s life. Photo: Streetsblog/Rudick

That’s not going to help though, if someone is injured or killed in the meantime.

Unprotected human bodies, on bicycle or foot, should never be put in close proximity with fast moving, two-to-five ton cars and even heavier trucks that can snuff out a life in a millisecond. Motorists are encased in passenger compartments with crumple zones and seat belts and air bags for a reason. Why on earth would anyone think it’s okay to leave cyclists or pedestrians in traffic without protection, especially in construction zones, where things are already especially dangerous?

It’s not hard to make temporary protective barriers. In fact, SFMTA went through the trouble of putting in lightweight pedestrian barrier along part of the route (as seen above). How much harder would it have been to put down real barriers? Cities in Denmark, the Netherlands, and elsewhere find ways to keep cyclists safe, even in construction zones.

A construction zone bike and pedestrian lane in Copenhagen. Photo: Jason Henderson.

In fact, it’s occasionally done even in a far away city called Oakland:

A construction area on Broadway in Oakland. Photo: Streetsblog/Rudick

Is the above configuration in Oakland above really that hard to emulate, SFMTA? Is it really that hard to see why the arrangement used on Howard, seen below, is just not safe?

The Howard Street temporary lane as seen from the pedestrian area. Photo: Streetsblog/Rudick

That said, Streetsblog would be unfair not to point out some of the positives getting installed in the area. At the corner of 5th, SFMTA installed a great protected turn. So at least when the construction is done, things should be better than ever.

A protected corner is under construction at Howard and 5th. Photo: Streetsblog/Rudick

Let’s just hope nobody gets hurt during the remainder of construction.

The post Howard Protected Bike Lane Eliminated – Streetsblog San Francisco appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

A bridge collapsed near the intersection of Braddock and Forbes in Pittsburgh on Friday morning, hours before President Biden was due to travel to that city to speak on American infrastructure.

In the summer of 2000 I graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Even then, as a New Yorker, I gave up my own car and got around by bike, bus and my feet. During my two years in Pittsburgh (“The Paris of Western Pennsylvania,” as I used to call it), I lived in Squirrel Hill.

I could easily walk to get groceries and coffee, and cycle to class. But when I finally finished school and packed my apartment to move to Los Angeles, I decided to rent a car for my last few days. So I had it for necessary errands and could drive myself – and my many suitcases – to the airport.

It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon and I decided to drive to a store in a mall a few miles away to get some packing supplies. Driving home with a big bag of peanuts in the trunk, excited about moving and looking forward to a new life in California, I turned off Braddock West onto Forbes and crossed the Fern Hollow Bridge.

I saw lightning out of the corner of my left eye and heard a loud bang. It was like a huge hand had slammed into the side of the car somewhere behind my left shoulder. My car turned around three times and was still moving across the bridge and into the oncoming lane. Eventually the rotation stopped, but I continued to move sideways. I looked to the right and there were two SUVs coming towards me.

I remember being unsure if they would be able to stop in time before realizing it didn’t matter: I walked off the end of the bridge into the forest and the ravine below. All that was left was to scream in terror.

And then the car came to a stop with an even stronger jolt than the original impact. Suddenly everything was quiet. The right front of my car had wrapped itself around a rusting steel utility pole, preventing me from driving into the canyon. Despite all the damage and warping of the rest of the car, my seat and side of the passenger compartment somehow remained untouched.

I forced my door open and stumbled out. I looked at the thirty-foot rusty pole that had stopped me. I looked behind me and saw a crumpled yellow Toyota stranded across the street. His driver drove over and apologized for hitting me. “My brakes were broken,” he said. Other drivers came to make sure we were okay and said the driver of the yellow Toyota was driving “like a bat out of hell”.

From what they described, he’d made his way through eastbound traffic on the Forbes straight. There is a sharp turn just before Forbes meets the eastbound bridge. As I looked at all the tire tracks and listened to the other drivers, I began to understand. The Toyota driver was going too fast to take that corner. He tried to brake, but physics took over. He lost control, crossed the bulkhead and hit the rear left wheel of my car, breaking the axle and throwing the rear of my car perpendicular to my direction of travel. At that point, my car might as well have been running on rubber skids; there was just no way to control it.

A few minutes later, an ambulance, a tow truck and the police showed up. I remember the tow truck driver, a burly guy in a short-sleeved blue uniform who looked like he could tow a car without the truck, kept staring at the remains of my car and shaking his head. “How do you breathe, let alone how you walk? You should go to the hospital,” he said. The paramedics asked if I was okay and if I wanted to go to the emergency room I said I felt fine. They took my pulse, looked into my eyes; did the usual checks. “You should go to the hospital, you could have internal damage,” the tow truck driver said. One of the paramedics turned to him and said, “You want to shut up?”

The policeman looked at all the tire tracks and listened to the testimonies. I remember the Toyota driver repeating, “My brakes locked up. You failed.” But the police officer shook his head and said, “You can’t drive the double yellow line in the state of Pennsylvania,” as he pulled out his citation book and began to write.

“But what about my brakes?”

I turned and barked at him, “The pavement is dry. Brakes don’t just lock up. You were to fast.”

Pittsburgh’s streetcar map in 1954.

I asked the paramedics if they thought I should go to the hospital. They just said they couldn’t find anything wrong. But I took the tow truck driver’s advice and drove anyway. Everything seemed so quiet in the back of the ambulance. I couldn’t believe what had happened; the one day in two years i rent a car and that! I thought about the bike lanes on Forbes. Just a painted stripe. If I had ridden a bike that afternoon, I would have been turned inside out.

A doctor examined me in the emergency room and couldn’t find anything. After about an hour of observation, they said I could go.

I left the hospital and suddenly remembered that I had no way home. I remembered that the packing material was still in the trunk of the wrecked car, which was now on its way to a junkyard. And the movers came the next day. I still had to pack. I had enough experience with Pittsburgh’s bus system to know that walking would probably get me home quicker.

So I started running. It takes an hour. It wasn’t that far, but Pittsburgh is as hilly as San Francisco. As the name suggests, Squirrel Hill is high up.

As I climbed the tree-lined streets of Pittsburgh, I noticed many of these old rusty poles, like the ones that had prevented me from going down the canyon. Pittsburgh used to have an amazing surface rail system that is perhaps only surpassed by Los Angeles’ Red Cars. But like so many cities in North America, it was all but destroyed in a colossal act of civic vandalism. The large steel rods holding the wires were all that survived. I thought of walking through “streetcar suburbs” once served by the great Pittsburgh Railways. There used to be almost 100 tram lines, but only one remained, and it didn’t go anywhere near where I lived.

How ridiculous was it that getting packing supplies without a car was so difficult in a city once riddled with such a massive transportation system? How absurd is it that a bridge in Pittsburgh that once carried streetcars now carried four lanes for car traffic, with nothing for bikes but a small strip in the gutter?

As I ran through the hills of Pittsburgh trying to stop shaking, little did I know that a few months later I would be collecting signatures on the Santa Monica Promenade to build the Expo Light Rail line on an abandoned streetcar line in Los Angeles . That’s how I met the people who would expand the Streetsblog network into California. That’s how I ended up editing Streetsblog SF

The view of the bridge from the opposite direction I was traveling. My car came to a stop near the stone structure on the right (the bar has since been removed). Note that the bike lanes are still ridiculous. Photo: Google Maps

This crash would continue to haunt me. For years I woke up screaming from nightmares. The horrors of road violence do not only affect people who are physically injured. The tow truck driver was right: I wasn’t feeling well. But it also shocked me to realize how absurd our cities are, where once-great transportation systems have been replaced by land use and monomorphic, auto-over-everything policies that leave people little choice about how to get around.

I finally got back to my apartment. My landlord was sitting on the stairs. She said a nice tow truck driver stopped by to drop off some peanuts and they waited at my apartment.

It is amazing that no one was killed when the same bridge collapsed on Friday morning. The President visited the site and spoke of America’s rusty bridges. “They’ll fix them all,” he said. Certainly the collapse underscores that need. But what a tragedy it will be when the country rebuilds just a few car lanes and misses an opportunity to build protected bike lanes and restore the rail systems that once supported these bridges, taking people safely and eco-friendly everywhere they needed to go .

The post That Bridge in Pittsburgh is The place I Turned an Advocate – Streetsblog San Francisco appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

“In most cities, mayors don’t have a lot of powers,” Emeryville Mayor John Bauters said in a recent interview with Streetsblog. He sees himself as part of a team with the city council, which has the most decision-making authority in this small town between Oakland, Berkeley and the San Francisco Bay Area.

But what a mayor can do is “set the tone,” he said. “The mayor is the person who speaks for what the community wants.” This means more than just being a figurehead; a mayor “gathers people together, brings them into community, paves the way for [working together], and identifies what the city will do to either address a concern, fix a problem, or celebrate an achievement.”

“The same goes for the very sexy world of cycling infrastructure,” he adds. “In my personal opinion, a mayor is someone who not only cheers, but also shows people the path that’s possible and then encourages people to go down that path — that bike path — and help get the city there.” what she wants to be.”

In addition, the mayors of the countless cities in the Bay Area have the opportunity to speak out on regional issues. For example, Bauters is also currently the vice chairman of the Alameda County Transportation Commission and serves on the board of the local district for air quality management. There he works on projects and problems in the field of regional transport, clean energy and emission reduction.

“I can provide input on bicycle infrastructure and pedestrian safety, and I can help shift our funding priorities and county dialogue toward a more inclusive, multi-modal system,” he said. In the Air District, he makes a point of “modeling” emissions reductions by riding his bike to meetings — though the lack of a bike lane on the western span of the Bay Bridge means a more than forty-mile ride around the north end of the bay from San Francisco to get there from Emeryville.

This type of action can be symbolically important. It tells people that there are leaders “who share a vision for climate action, who believe that bikes are a vehicle for change, and that walking and cycling are healthy not only for ourselves but also for the environment and others.” “

And electing people to prioritize cycling “brings new people into the discussion who weren’t previously part of the discussion — but who still have to pay for the funding decisions made.”

While bike fans may be used to feeling dismissed as a opinionated minority, the fact that they have champions in leadership positions can change that. For example, a ‘bike person’ on a regional board can ensure that board members are at least reminded of the importance of cycling to the health of the planet and individuals. If nobody in these decision-making bodies understands cycling, this message will be lost.

Bauters describes how he had to remind his colleagues of their windshield perspective.

“People have said, well, you only feel or think that way because you ride a bike. And I say, so look at the rest – you all drive. And the reason we keep spending billions on freeways is because you do. I don’t want to spend billions on autobahns because it’s no use to me.”

“So obviously I want to build a bike bridge between Oakland and Alameda, and obviously I want to have an East Bay Greenway — because that’s what people use. There’s just never been anyone on this board with you who’s had that experience,” he said.

“I spoke to some non-cyclists about a plan for a bike project. And they said to me, “Well, you know, maybe we could do it halfway — we could maybe take cars from half that area,” he said. “The mindset is constantly that we have to share it with cars. But when we build a road we always have a conversation about how to make sure we keep half of it for bikes? We do not do that. The predisposition is that everyone has to use the car. We never ask this question the other way around. And we should.”

“Let’s figure out how we’re actually getting parity into what we’re building — because for a lot less money you could get a lot more people on my greenway than you could funding three miles of your freeway.”

Bauters firmly believes – based on his own childhood experience of riding a bike to kindergarten – that young people never have to give up the freedom to ride a bike safely. That’s kind of his goal in Emeryville – not so much forcing someone to ride a bike instead of a car, but to be able to do so.

“People ask me what my agenda is, but I don’t have an agenda,” Bauters said. “Other than joy.”

“I don’t believe in going out and convincing people to do something; You’ll rarely hear me say it has to be this way or that,” he said. “I’m not doing anything to change your mind. I’m not trying to force anyone onto a bike. What I offer is a space for people to find it themselves.”

“When I was a kid, my parents gave me a dirt bike. And right next to our house was this huge field with all kinds of mounds of earth and stuff. And I would just go out and ride my bike and catch frogs and mice and watch the sunset and play in the creek and I took my bike everywhere. And I came home and my mom made me a peanut butter and honey sandwich. And it sounds like that bucolic little Central American romantic thing, but the truth is I’m still thinking about it. In my 40s. And I still come home and make myself a peanut butter and honey sandwich.”

“And I still ride my bike wherever I want and get out on the water and do what I want because I know how much fun I’m having with it.”

Joy is lost when people cannot relax. One of the projects Bauters and his Council allies pushed through during COVID was a major reconfiguration of Doyle Street, making it a mostly traffic-free street that connects to the Greenway bike path that runs through Emeryville. Because there is so little car traffic on this one road now—it was essentially a “slow road” or “safe road” that was made permanent—families can drive on it without fear of being overtaken by speeding cars.

CalBike: The best and worst of 2021” width=”720″ height=”534″/>Doyle Street, Emeryville. Image by CalBike: The Best and Worst of 2021

“If a person has to ride a bike with their kid and cars go the other way or we end up having the police to keep people safe, they don’t really have the option to just focus on their experience with the bike ‘ Bauters said. “What we need to give people is car-free spaces with just their bikes and their family or friends and a sunny afternoon and letting them be themselves, without traffic noise and honking and the lights of a police car down the street. When we give people that space and that experience, we change their hearts and minds.”

“You may not become a commuter by bike,” but new opportunities are opening up. On the weekends, they ride the Bay Trail with their kids; They see that their child loves something – or they do. “And now they have to really care about whether that bike lane goes in, and then they think about it and email me and tell me — like these parents are already doing with Doyle Street — ‘my kid loves to bike to Doyle Park.’ ‘My wife used to drive, but now she rides her bike with them.’”

“This is how you change something; not because I had an agenda to get everyone on the north side of my city to bike this route, but people found them because we left them there.”

People start to see things they can’t imagine when they’re in cars — things like how much fun a scooter can be or how fast it is to get around on a bike compared to driving, parking, and walking. “Those are the things that go through people’s minds,” said Bauters. “I’m not trying to force anyone onto a bike. What I offer is a space for people to find it themselves.”

Bauters has many other ideas for Emeryville. The city is planning a major redevelopment of 40th Street, a major thoroughfare that runs past a large parking lot, er, mall. The road will receive a street diet with transit-only lanes, a two-way cycle lane and pedestrian crossings at each intersection. The city is also revising its active transit plan — due out later this spring — identifying several streets it plans to make car-free. They are also working on a project proposed by Bauters’ colleague Ally Medina to close sections of existing bike lanes to turn them into plazas and parks. “We’re going to be deprioritizing these streets for cars, essentially freeing them from traffic in some places so they can be dedicated to people who want to sit outside and enjoy.” We’re going to transform the street space into something else, and we’re going to have end-to-end bike lanes for a largely car-free route.”

“It’s about creating the infrastructure and the incentives that help people make different decisions,” Bauters said.

This interview was condensed and edited from an interview for BikeTalk. Check BikeTalk early next week to hear the entire conversation.

The post What Can a Mayor Do to Make a Metropolis Extra Livable? – Streetsblog San Francisco appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Here are a few streetsblog news nuggets to start your weekend off.

The city of San Francisco is committed to car-free JFK

For some time now, the powerful de Young Trust has been trying, through its paid lobbyists, to destroy the dream of a car-free JFK ride in Golden Gate Park. The city has been talking about this issue but it seems that things are moving in the right direction again.

From an SFMTA version:

Starting January 5, 2022, you will find new signage along the promenade route reminding users to be friendly, share space, move slowly and say hello to each other. Through over 50 outreach events by the Golden Gate Park Access & Safety Program team this fall and over 10,000 survey responses we received, the San Franciscans have overwhelmingly said they had the place to walk and roll along the JFK Appreciate Drive – but also want to see more Instructions on how to use the space. In response, the SF Recreation & Park Department and SFMTA jointly developed this courtesy campaign to encourage park users to put safety and friendliness first when navigating the boardwalk.

The editorial staff of the San Francisco Chronicle is now also heavily responsible for the boardwalk. From “JFK Drive is for people, not car commuters. So that it stays that way in 2022 and beyond “:

Before the pandemic, JFK was one of the most dangerous and deadly streets in San Francisco. From 2014 to its closure in 2020, there were 91 crashes. This is mainly because 75% of the people who travel with JFK had no intention of visiting the park; they just used it as a puncture. This would be a political failure for any city; however, for a supposedly transit-oriented city like San Francisco, this was an inexcusable display of incompetence.

And:

To ensure JFK remains a safe and enjoyable place, worthy of one of the most beautiful city parks in the world, it should remain closed to cars in 2022 and beyond.

It must sting the de Young Trust a bit to know that the newspaper that originally built its fortune is now officially written in the face. Of course, without a doubt, de Young will never stop stepping on the gas – pretending it’s a stock issue or that there isn’t a huge underground parking lot for people arriving by car. It is for this reason that the hard-working supporters of Walk SF are continuing their postcard campaign to protect the car-free JFK.

Register here as a volunteer service.

California’s high-speed rail project is getting more good news from federal agencies

A French high-speed train that travels at 200 miles per hour and draws power from the overhead line. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Streetsblog readers may recall that HSR opponents, including the chief of the railroad disaster, Ralph Vartabedian of the LA Times, predicted for years that the state would miss construction deadlines and receive $ 2.5 billion in federal matching Fund related to the Obama-era American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Well, this week the agency officially met its eligibility requirements.

From a California HSR publication:

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has notified the California High-Speed ​​Rail Authority that it has fully met its state funding requirements for federal dollars a year ahead of schedule. Today’s action meets an important requirement of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to fund the grant.

“Federal government investment in this transformative project has doubled dollar for dollar a year ahead of schedule,” said Brian Annis, chief financial officer for the agency. “With a strong, committed federal partner, we are able to further advance the provision of electrified high-speed trains to the Californian population.”

The agency has spent the $ 2.5 billion in federal ARRA funds by the September 2017 legal deadline. Funding benefited the 119 mile long backbone of the state’s high-speed rail system in the Central Valley, a historically deprived part of the state notorious for its poor air quality. The FRA asked the agency to match federal spending with state funding for qualified spending by December 2022.

This is big news. And it’s good news. Waiting to read your concise coverage, LA Times. Twitter, Twitter, Twitter.

Oakland launches “Universal Basic Mobility” pilot project

File photo of an AC transit bus

One of the main tenets of this blog is that mobility is a basic human right. Because of this, Streetsblog argues that building cities where residents have to buy an expensive car and wait to get around is inherently unfair. And everyone should be able to move regardless of their economic status. It appears that the City of Oakland is in agreement with its Universal Basic Mobility plan.

From an OakDOT version:

As part of its innovative Universal Basic Mobility pilot, the Oakland City Department of Transportation (OakDOT) announced today that it has successfully distributed 500 prepaid debit cards to East Oakland residents and employees. These cards are limited to the purchase of journeys or passes for public transport, bike sharing and shared e-scooters. Program participants started with $ 150 available on their cards. After recipients complete a survey in January, the second and final withdrawal of $ 150 will be loaded onto their cards. The goal of the Universal Basic Mobility pilot project is to increase walking, cycling, public transportation and shared mobility journeys in East Oakland while reducing private vehicle journeys.

“The Universal Basic Mobility Pilot is capitalizing on the huge investment in East Bay’s first Bus Rapid Transit Line (BRT) by providing participants with free rides on public transport, bike rentals and e-scooters,” added OakDOT- Director Ryan Russo added. “Removing financial barriers to mobility is critical to meeting the needs of East Oakland residents, who are most grappling with the dual costs of housing and transportation.”

For further information, click here.

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